The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope
The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope
The Heart of Integrity: Niyonu Spann’s Vision for a Just Futur
This mini episode of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope revisits our most downloaded conversation across six seasons, featuring visionary leader Niyonu Spann. Through excerpts from her full episode, Niyonu shares what it means to live with integrity—wholeness, surrender, and alignment with purpose. She reflects on the origins of her transformative workshop, Beyond Diversity 101, and offers listeners practical invitations to embody integrity in their daily lives.
About Niyonu Spann
Niyonu Spann is a facilitator, musician, and community leader with decades of experience in and beyond Quaker institutions. As Dean at Pendle Hill in the early 2000s, she created Beyond Diversity 101, a workshop that has transformed communities across the country. She is a prolific musician and founder of the performance group Tribe 1, which has carried songs of peace and justice throughout the U.S. and Nicaragua. Niyonu has also worked extensively with Chester Eastside Ministries in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Compelling Quotes from the Episode
“It is about wholeness. It is about remembering who we are.” —Niyonu Spann
“I didn’t even know I needed that song, but I knew I needed that song. Thank you for that gift.” —Dwight Dunston
Listen in for wisdom, music, and a reminder that integrity is the keynote frequency guiding us toward justice and belonging.
Follow Niyonu on Instagram @niyonus and LinkedIn.
👉 To hear the complete original conversation, visit:
https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/2032871/episodes/12356301-integrity-radical-truth-remembering-who-we-are-with-niyonu-spann
NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.
The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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It is about wholeness. It is about remembering who we are.
>> Peterson Toscano:In the morning.
>> Dwight Dunstan:You'Re listening to a. Mini episode of the seed Conversations for Radical Hope. I'm your host, Dwight Dunston. Some of these shorter episodes feature parts of conversations never aired before. In others, I will share excerpts from previous seasons. Our guest today is Niyonu Spann. Niyonu is a facilitator, musician, and community leader with decades of experience inside and outside of Quaker institutions, including time here at Pendle Hill. As the Dean in the early 2000s, she designed the transformative workshop Beyond Diversity 101, which has been attended by hundreds of friends from around the country. Niyonu is a prolific musician and the founder and director of the group Tribe One, which performs songs of peace and justice all over the US And Nicaragua. She has worked extensively in Chester, Pennsylvania, with Chester Eastside Ministries.
>> Niyonu Spann:If one has three primary things they've, like, focused on their whole life, being integris is so central to everything that I'm up to. Yeah, for me, it's like the keynote. And I think of it musically as, you know, it's the frequency that you introduce, and then everything is in relationship to that frequency. You know, I think about these different songs that either I wrote or that I've sung that are in direct relationship to this, but the one that I did not write these words, but people will be familiar, is.
>> Peterson Toscano:Give over thine own running Give over and it goes on thine own doing. Give over thine own desiring m to do or, uh, to be anything Just sink deep down to that seed that sown so sure in your heart and let it be in thee.
>> Niyonu Spann:That's it. The surrendering. You know, I can tell a thousand stories of coming back to that again. You know, when we grow to know when we've lost and when we're getting off track. M from that sinking down to that seed and letting it be in you and grow in you.
>> Dwight Dunstan:Wow.
>> Niyonu Spann:You know?
>> Dwight Dunstan:Yeah. You know, I didn't even know I need. I knew I needed that song, but I didn't know I needed that song. So thank you for that gift. And. Wow. Just. Yeah, those lyrics are going to be. I'm going to be meditating on those. I'm curious. Just hearing you talk about dreams you had manifesting. Just being a visionary, I definitely see so much of your. Your work and your facilitation and your. Your art as just extremely visionary. And. And I want to talk specifically about beyond diversity 101, which also is known as BD101. And just hearing if there was a specific experience or maybe it was a moment of integrity that caused you to actually create BD101. Or if there's a specific moment that comes to mind, NBD101, that embodies that. This, uh, definition of integrity. Beautiful definition you just laid out for us. Yeah. Just maybe a little about the origin and what comes to mind. Mhm. With BD101 and integrity. Mhm.
>> Niyonu Spann:Yeah, I want to do that. And a little background from one of my youngest memories with my dad. I don't even know how old I was, maybe eight. And I was asking him, like, what is truth? You know, and it was burning. It was like burning. I was like, but how do you know truth? And he passed just a couple of years ago, but he oftentimes would recount that to me. And so, you know, I remember so much going forward in life, actually when I was teaching at Oakwood School in Poughkeepsie. And you know, I'm one of two black teachers in the school. The other one was my then husband. So of course, you know, like all the then we would say kids of color, bipoc kids, you know, would often come to us and, you know, just have their experiences and their stories and how they felt being away from home and so forth and so on. And so I started doing these anti racism classes. Not even classes, they were after school gatherings. And I remember very much sitting on the floor looking up at something that I had written on the blackboard that racism equals power plus prejudice. And I remember sitting on the floor looking up at that definition and I just had one of those almost out of body experiences of taking that definition and whooshing it through my whole life going forward. And I was like, oh, so I don't have power and never will.
>> Dwight Dunstan:Hm.
>> Niyonu Spann:According to this definition.
>> Dwight Dunstan:Hm.
>> Niyonu Spann:And that was one moment. And another moment was running a racism workshop. And it was an older black man. And he said, there's racism now and there always will be, there always have been. And nothing you all can do in this workshop is going to make a difference. And those two experiences helped to create this seed in me of is there anything beyond this?
>> Dwight Dunstan:Yeah.
>> Niyonu Spann:Is there anything beyond having having workshops where, you know, people of color get in touch with their anger and express more and more and white folks get more and more and come to tears, like, is that the pinnacle of all of this?
>> Dwight Dunstan:Hm.
>> Niyonu Spann:And calling that out like, I want to create something that is beyond that cycle was a seed, thought and yearning that called BD101 into being and a life of experiences that I've had the honor of holding the space for. Um, yeah, there is something beyond it.
>> Dwight Dunstan:M. Yonu as we, as we move to closing our time together, I'm curious if there's a practice or an invitation for our listeners just as they potentially begin to step more in alignment with their, their purpose, their mission, their life calling. Really live with that integrity we spoke about, that integrity that's pointed towards wholeness. Uh-huh. What would be a first step or uh, yeah, maybe a practice as folks listening to this podcast look to live an integrous life.
>> Niyonu Spann:Well, I'll say three short things. For a person that is more kinesthetic, I would say to just take like a 10 minute period and set a timer and thinking about something that you're called to do. Close your eyes and see if it locates somewhere in your body. And once it locates someplace, imagine either sending and feeding that place so that all you're doing is sending it energy or ask a question about what might be blocking and getting in the way of and then let it go. Don't try to fix anything and try to do anything and see what else. See what else comes up for you. For someone that's more auditory, there are so many songs that are about vision and calling and what is it that you're up to. I have a song called Focus and Fire. If you can't find anything else and it's on all the places, Spotify is on YouTube, blah blah blah. Just listen to that and then afterward just do some writing and see what comes up for you. And for someone who's a little bit more visual, I might invite listen to Focus and Fire and just have something that you can draw on and just do some drawing and a little worship after any one of these would be beautiful to see. See if spirit offers you some guidance.
>> Dwight Dunstan:Mhm. You've offered us so many gifts today, Neonu m and I'm so grateful for the time we got to spend today and just the gifts that you brought to this moment, this moment together. What now feels more possible from being in your presence. So thank you. Thank you for being a visionary, a loving, intentional. Mhm. Visionary. And I got me some homework. I'm going to go get into my homework right after this.
>> Niyonu Spann:Thank you so much Dwight. This has been a blessing and I would love to leave people with the knowing that as you uh, step into doing this work, if the work is about liberation or justice or equity or integrity, knowing that whoever you're working with is you. And having that heart connection makes all the difference in the world.
>> Peterson Toscano:Um.
>> Dwight Dunstan:Thank you for listening to this. Mini episode of the Seed Conversations for Radical Hope what spoke to you in this episode? Contact me directly by email podcastindlehill.org that's podcastindlehill.org you and I can also connect through Pendle Hills online Worship Time I attend this virtual Quaker meeting on the last Friday of
the month which begins at 8:30am Eastern Time. For login details, visit pendlehill.org worship Our podcast is a project of Pendle Hill. We're located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania on the traditional territory of the Lenni Lenape people. This mini episode of the Seed was produced by Peterson Toscano, who also co hosts the Quakers Today podcast. Our ah theme music is the I Rise Project by Reverend Retta Morgan and Bennett Coon, produced by Astronautical Records. Other music comes from epidemicsound.com and you also heard some music that I created. If you find these conversations meaningful, consider supporting our work financially. To do so, visit pendlehill.org donate these seeds could not be planted without you.
>> Dwight Dunstan:Let's co create a world filled with cooperation, reciprocity and love.
>> Peterson Toscano:Mhm. Sam.
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